Hear, See, Speak

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

HEAR, SEE, SPEAK

Acts 7:51-53

51 "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

NIV

These are the last words of Stephen as he was standing before the Sanhedrin, and they were damning words against them. He not only accused them, but he also passed judgment upon them. He called them "stiff-necked." This phrase had been used against their forefathers several times throughout the Old Testament. Its meaning comes from when oxen refuse to take the yoke, stiffening their neck, not bending their heads to receive the yoke on their necks. Stephen is telling them that they are stubborn, insubordinate, and unwilling to submit to the law's restraints. Stephen is not finished with just judging them as "stiff-necked", but he tells them they have uncircumcised hearts and ears. We know that Paul used the same idea that people are not Jews because of the circumcision of the flesh, but the true Israel is those who have a circumcised heart. The male reproductive part is the most tender of all parts; circumcision, therefore, exposes it, removing a covering. The heart is truly the most sensitive member of the body, and to cover it, to hide it, deep within, not allowing God to circumcise the heart would mean a refusal to submit to his authority. When we do not allow our hearts to be exposed to God, we live under the cover of darkness. It is the same with our ears, refusing to listen to the truth, forging our own set of rules and regulations that we know we can abide by, and then think so well of ourselves. This is what Stephen judged them for doing. They resisted the Holy Spirit, who leads men into all truth. They wanted their own truths, and we need to be careful to learn that lesson well. When we allow God to circumcise our hearts and ears, we are completely open to his authority and totally submitted to his plan and purpose for our lives. We cannot manipulate the word of God, as the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and the teachers of the law did, and apply it so that we fit it to our way of thinking. That type of thinking is like the three monkeys: "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil, except in the case of the uncircumcised hearts and ears, it is "see no truth, hear no truth, and speak no truth."  If or when we do that, we are living with uncircumcised hearts and ears. Let us listen first with our ears, but secondly, and most importantly, with our hearts.